> > Gentlemen, are we not straining at a gnat here? To me the article simply
> > is a storytelling gambit; as one would say "This sower went out to sow
> > some seed....".
>
> Definitely showing signs of straining... That people insist that
> "the sower went out..." must, because of the use of the English
> definite article, is quite amusing.

Got ahead of myself there and forgot to finish my thought. My point is
that just because the word "the" is used to introduce "sower" does not
mean
Jesus had a particular "sower" in mind; remember the context is more
important many times than the specific word used, especially when the
specific word chosen (here, "the") is ambiguous. If you forget context,
semantic bunny trails like this in studying the Greek NT seem to be a
dime
a dozen.

> > As Greek lacks the indefinite article altogether, sometimes an English
> > indefinite article is appropriate where the Greek definite article stands.
> > But an English indefinite article is not always appropriate where no article
> > at all is found in the Greek. Or am I wrong?
>
> There is of course the famous John 1:1:
>
> "...KAI QE0S HN hO LOGOS."
>
> which the Jehovah's Witnesses translate as "...and the Word was a god."
>
> and everyone else translates "...and the Word was God."
>
> But we won't get into that, lest we go way beyond the scope of
> this group.... :)